Cohesity DataProtect vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager comparison

Cohesity DataProtect vs. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Download the complete report

Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Cohesity DataProtect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (6th)

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Cohesity DataProtect is 3.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is 4.6%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Giovanni Golinelli.

Hybrid IT Architect at Quanture Spa

Easy to use, offers good scalability and responsive support

The deployment depends on the environment. Deploying on VMs is relatively simple. But for most of our customers, we implement physical clusters with at least three configured hosts using the existing model. So, it depends on the setup. Implementing DataProtect itself wasn't particularly challenging. One key requirement for successful DataProtect deployment is proper network configuration. If the network setup isn't right, you won't achieve optimal performance. We have developed a service for some of our customers where they implement an appliance or physical cluster of Cohesity at the customer site. Then, we use cloud clustering to replicate, and even in production, a second copy of the protected data. And in some cases, we have developed some disaster recovery procedures using Cohesity.

Read full review

MinaMagdy1

Senior System Engineer at Nutanix

Comprehensive integration and user-friendly dashboard enhance data protection workflows

PowerProtect Data Manager lacks the tape-out functionality, which is important for organizations relying on it for offsite backup. While PowerProtect Data Manager offers a workaround, it's not always accepted, notably by sectors like banking. Additionally, I would like PowerProtect Data Manager to provide microservices and container backup for modern applications.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The support is awesome. They are very fast, competent and friendly."

"Some of the most valuable features of Cohesity DataProtect for me include instant mass restore, anomaly detection, and its ability to handle large data volumes effectively."

"I love the ability to clone a virtual server in only minutes."

"With the ability to stage an entire lifecycle through versioning, integrated with AWS, it has made it possible to protect our corporation from end to end."

"The tool is faster and easier to use than others. The most critical feature for our data protection needs is the accuracy of backups and restores."

"Instant recovery options are a big benefit for urgent restores, as we don't need to wait for hours or days for a restore to complete before being able to access the files."

"Cohesity is extremely easy to use and intuitive."

"The recovery process is effective, especially when it comes to other types of data, such as VMs, and overall, the performance is commendable."

More Cohesity DataProtect pros

"The solution's initial setup is straightforward."

"The deduplication is the most valuable feature because it helps to control the overhead."

"It satisfies my customers' scalability needs and provides interactive features, allowing efficient integration."

"The product's initial setup phase was easy."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its integrated approach."

"Dell PowerProtect Data Manager helps to reduce the amount of data being transferred and stored."

"The most valuable features of the solution are flexibility and data protection."

"The solution adequately handles data storage."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Manager pros

Cons

"At times, you may click the wrong server or click too fast and accidentally restore a cluster of servers. It would be very helpful to have a cancel option under restores."

"Non-cloud services need improvement."

"We aren't missing any features. In terms of the solution overall, it's so far so good."

"The one area where we would like to see additional improvements is with reporting. There are very granular reports from each grid. There are also some built-in reports within Helios (SAS Management Console) that offers basic reporting. However, for complex, large-enterprise environments, a more robust reporting engine that supports detailed audit reporting and enhanced ad hoc reports would be welcome."

"Cohesity DataProtect needs to improve its reporting capabilities."

"Reporting is one area that isn't as robust as it could be."

"There is limited support for legacy systems, which is something that could be improved."

"Initial setup can be complex if you need to change IP addresses. Hopefully, they improve that in a future release."

More Cohesity DataProtect cons

"The solution should enhance its user interface and make it more flexible."

"PPDM requires further development. It is primarily integrated with DevOps systems."

"The interface is too complex."

"Management is difficult and it is hard to determine when things aren't working properly."

"The marketing strategy is lagging behind competitors such as CommVault. Dell needs to improve its market presence and communication with customers and solution providers."

"As a new product, there are some things that still need to improve a bit as it matures."

"PowerProtect Data Manager is missing a feature for takeout, which means I cannot store backup data off-site within the software. This is a limitation for organizations that require off-site solutions."

"When I raise a ticket, it sometimes takes a while to get a response."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Sizing is important and it is easy to overestimate."

"It has reasonable pricing, and we know they can give discounts. If you look at the primary pricing or the list pricing, it conforms to the market pricing, but you have to have a discount on it. Otherwise, it is way too expensive."

"The solution's pricing is quite high, more so than that of its competitors, Veeam, Veritas and Rubrik."

"I expect the system to probably pay off within the first two years."

"The ROI is huge. Not really measurable at this point, but the price of the unit was a fraction of what a couple hours of downtime could result in."

"The solution's pricing is in the mid-range, where it's neither costly nor cheap."

"Cohesity came in at the best price. Setup was included and done in half a day."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly. It is cheaper than other backup solutions."

More Cohesity DataProtect pricing and cost advice

"Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is not an expensive solution."

"The licensing costs and pricing model are based on capacity and the license is easy to upgrade."

"We offer monthly or yearly subscriptions. The price could be cheaper."

"The solution is not less expensive than competitors but pricing deals are available."

"The price of Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager is reasonable."

"The solution is more affordable than other vendors."

"The product is offered at a very competitive price in the market."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

40%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

11%

Educational Organization

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cohesity DataProtect?

Several features enable us to perform fast recovery, such as instant fast recovery. All our virtual machines protected with the product can be quickly restored to another healthy environment with m...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cohesity DataProtect?

Typically on-premises nodes/clusters are deployed for primary backup (to enable instant mass restore) so price will be dependent on chosen OEM and capacity required. MSPs like us utilise PPU licens...

What needs improvement with Cohesity DataProtect?

While there are improvements to be made, such as providing support for older systems like IBM iSeries and tandem systems from HP, the solution overall shifts from older methods to modern practices....

What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?

One notable feature is its robust backup support for Kubernetes and container environments. Additionally, PPDM stands out for its ease of deployment and management compared to other backup solution...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?

The price of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is generally perceived as reasonable. However, specific figures are not available as I am on the technical side and do not handle costs.

What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?

The main issue that needs improvement is the support system. When I raise a ticket, it sometimes takes a while to get a response. Scheduling for support calls can be problematic when it does not al...

Rubrik vs Cohesity DataProtect

Comparisons

Compared 27% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Cohesity DataProtect

Compared 15% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Cohesity DataProtect

Compared 12% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs Cohesity DataProtect

Compared 6% of the time

AWS Backup vs Cohesity DataProtect

Compared 3% of the time

More Cohesity DataProtect Competitors

Dell Avamar vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 21% of the time

Dell NetWorker vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 18% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 12% of the time

Zerto vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 2% of the time

More Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Cohesity DataProtect

Download Cohesity DataProtect product report

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Download Dell PowerProtect Data Manager product report

Also Known As

Cohesity

PowerProtect, Dell EMC PowerProtect

Overview

What is Cohesity DataProtect?

Cohesity DataProtect is a top-level, sophisticated, software-defined backup and recovery solution created for cloud environments. Cohesity DataProtect is made to hyperscale and is one the most thorough policy-based protection solutions available on the market today.

Cohesity DataProtect melds multiple-point products into a single software that is able to be deployed as on-premise or consumed as a service.

Top Features:

Hyperscale made easy: Cohesity DataProtect improves data protection by doing away with the need for backup silos and administers backup and recovery with a single user-friendly, easy-to-understand interface. Cohesity DataProtect provides extensive 24/7 enterprise-class protection for a large, varying set of sources, including virtual and physical servers, NAS and SaaS workloads, relational and distributed databases, and traditional and containerized applications.

Super fast recovery: Cohesity DataProtect offers near-zero recovery point objectives (RPOs) and near-instant recovery time objectives (RTOs) to satisfy your business service-level agreements (SLAs). Using Cohesity Helios’ unified data plane and control plane you can immediately search and recover data on any Cohesity cluster, located anywhere. DataProtect distinctively minimizes downtime by immediately mass restoring any amount of virtual machines (VMs) to any point in time, and lowers data protection costs by as much as 70% or more.

Backup as a Service: Feel free to take advantage of the elasticity of the public cloud and the cost-effective value of Cohesity DataProtect when delivered as a service. When you choose an OPEX option, you can eliminate the need for on-premises hardware. There is a SaaS option that will allow you to very simply configure your backup workloads and immediately begin protecting your vital all-important data and applications.

It’s as easy as: sign-up, connect, and protect!

Ransomware protection: Cohesity DataProtect offers stellar recovery at scale. The solution is so intuitive, it has machine learning-based anomaly detection to stop incidents before they happen. Cohesity DataProtection can provide immutable backups, Datalock write once, read many (WORM), encryption, and role-based access control (RBAC).

Cohesity DataProtect integrates well with many of today’s top solutions, including, but not limited to:

Hypervisors: VMware vSphere (5.5 and later), Microsoft Hyper-V (2019, 2016, 2012 R2), Nutanix AHV and RHeV

Kubernetes-based data and application state

Cloud: AWS EC2, Amazon RDS, Azure VM, and Google Compute

Physical: Windows, Linux(RHEL, CentOS, OEL, Debian, Ubuntu), AIX (7.x), and Solaris

Databases: Oracle (11g R2, 12c), Oracle RAC and SQL (2008 or later)

Distributed Databases (NoSQL and Hadoop): MongoDB, CouchbaseDB, Apache, Cassandra, Cloudera, and Hortonworks.

Bare Machine Recovery: Windows and Linux

Applications: MS Exchange (2010 SP3 or later), MSFT Active Directory, Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams, Groups), SalesForce (SFDC), and SAP HANA

Primary storage: Pure FlashArray, HPE Nimble, and Cisco Hyperflex

NAS: Pure FlashBlade, NetApp, Isilon, IBM GPFS, Google EFS, Elastifile, and generic solutions*

Reviews from Real Users

One reviewer, who is head of IT infrastructure at Kampmann says, “Cohesity really is a Next-Gen Data Management Software,” and goes on to indicate that Cohesity “works flawlessly with easy replication of backups and numerous supported backup sources.”

Another user, who is a senior network engineer at a legal firm, relates that "Cohesity is a robust and feature-rich solution"

Cohesity

PowerProtect Data Manager offers efficient data protection capabilities leveraging the latest evolution of Dell trusted protection storage architecture.

With operational simplicity, agility and flexibility at its core, PowerProtect Data Manager enables the protection, management and recovery of data in on-premises, virtualized and cloud deployments, including protection of in-cloud workloads. You can also protect cloud-native workloads across multiple public clouds via our integrated SaaS based PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot Manager.

Modernize how you protect your VMware virtual machines using Transparent Snapshots. Transparent Snapshots simplifies VM image backups for near-zero impact to your VMs or VM resources – and it works with any VMware supported storage. Transparent Snapshots innovation increases backup performance, lowers costs and simplifies management and reduces the risk of data loss.

Streamline data protection directly for applications or Kubernetes containers to Dell PowerProtect appliances and reduce application resource constraints.

Increase business resiliency with PowerProtect Cyber Recovery capabilities to rapidly recover from cyber incidents.

Modular design allows agile delivery of new features and updates. Rapidly evolve to meet future IT demands.

Software defined: Provide flexible data protection and compliance across applications and cloud-native IT environments
Multi-cloud optimized: Extend protection to the cloud with backup to cloud, backup in-cloud, long term retention and cloud disaster recovery
Self-service: Backup and restore directly from native applications
Cloud-Based Monitoring and Analytics: Telemetry, machine learning and predictive analytics to proactively take action and speed time to resolution

Reviews from Real Users

“We keep an eye on the future, and we are confident that PowerProtect Data Manager and PowerProtect DD series appliances will support our transformation project. Both products are continuously evolving and will cover our future needs, including using the cloud for data protection.” – Dimitris Mavromichalis, IT Deputy Manager at National Bank of Greece

“PowerProtect Data Manager combined with PowerProtect appliances – that’s cutting edge. That’s world leading as far as we’re concerned.” – Drew Hills, Infrastructure Analyst at USC Australia

““Most of my wish list came true with the PowerProtect Data Manager plugin for vSphere, which provides perfect integration with vCenter.” – Dave Chapman, Senior Technician at PSC Publishing

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Tribune Media

National Bank of Greece, USC Australia, PCS Publishing, Dell Digital IT, Rushmore Electric, Melanson Health, Arrow Electronics

Cohesity DataProtect vs. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager